Freshmen and sophomores - it's time to act. Application deadlines for summer "early entry" programs are coming due as soon as February 23 at firms like KPMG, Bain, PwC, and BCG. These programs represent a streamlined path into consulting - if you can get in.
Today's conversation is with Alex Poroy, who participated in multiple early entry programs on his way to an Associate Consultant role at Bain. He breaks down:
- Who these early entry programs are for
- Why to consider applying
- Benefits of participating
See upcoming application deadlines here.
Episode Links
- Get resume and cover letter edits to maximize your chances - limited availability
- Check out the Strategy Sprint virtual consulting project
- Join the Black Belt case prep program
Partner Links
- More info on Palm Tree careers
Transcription:
0:59
Hey, Strategy Simplified, Welcome back to another episode.
Did you know that many consulting firms offer leadership programs for sophomores as an early entry pathway into their firms?
Well, today we're exploring those programs.
In my conversation with Alex Poroy, he went through several of these, what we're calling sophomore DEI programs or sophomore summer internship programs, really their leadership programs, leadership conferences and mini internships.
1:28
And so today we dig into what all these are about at firms like McKinsey, Bain and much more.
Make sure to see the resources in the show notes where you can see upcoming application deadlines for these programs, links to connect with the firms, and much more.
1:48
All right, let's get into my conversation with Alex.
Alex Poroy is an intern at Management Consulted and we're really excited to dive into his journey to consulting and talk about these sophomore DEI programs.
Alex, first of all, welcome to Strategy Simplified.
2:04
Can you just dive right in and give us kind of the high level overview of your journey into consulting?
Absolutely.
Thank you so much for having me today.
I'm so excited to share more about these programs again.
Yeah, I'm Alex, currently in my 4th year at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
2:20
Consulting was something I was lucky enough to be interested in, like right jumping into college, so I knew it was something that I wanted to explore.
I didn't know exactly what it was, but it at least sounded interesting enough to test out.
And luckily, within my first year, through a bunch of different sources, I ended up stumbling on a variety of these underclassmen DEI focused leadership programs and internships.
2:46
And I was lucky enough to land several of them, which allowed me to kind of start exploring, consulting, and really realizing that it was at least the best place for me to start my professional journey.
I completed a few programs which I'll go into in just a bit and then ended up interning at one of the firms that I did a leadership program for the summer after my sophomore year.
3:12
And then while completing that internship program, I was able to prepare and land an internship at an MBB firm at Bain & Co. for the summer after that.
Amazing.
All right, well, Bain is a big get really excited for you to, to, to get started there very shortly.
3:34
Sounds like it was a bit of a multi year process for you, which I'm excited to dig into.
Can we just go back a little bit to the beginning and just tell us about how you discovered these kinds of DEI leadership programs?
I think a lot of people don't know that they exist.
3:51
I don't know what they are.
And so I'm just looking forward to shedding some light on that process.
Yeah, absolutely.
Funny enough, it was quite a first full circle moment for me actually interning at management consulting because I initially found out about these programs through one alumni who did like Deloitte's Discovery program.
4:11
And I was super interested in what it was and then started doing some research and I stumbled upon management consultants sophomore internship article and basically applied to every single program in the article that was open at the time.
4:27
I had this large like a master notion spreadsheet of everyone who I talked to and all of the different programs that were open and available with, I'd say like 90% of them sourced directly from that article.
So it's very funny to be working on them from the side now.
4:44
That's awesome.
And of course, that article will be LinkedIn the show notes where people can learn about all of these programs.
You can see application deadlines, you can see where and how to apply and much more.
So make sure to reference that article in the show notes.
5:02
Alex, can you first of all just provide a quick overview of like a couple of the big firms that run these programs?
And then next like how does someone know if they are eligible for these?
5:19
Yeah, absolutely.
So I think a wide variety of firms have adopted these programs.
The Big three all have a variety of different programs for different years and different identities and affinity groups as do the BIG4.
The Big Four, I think it's a little bit less consistent . They're programming like MBB has a lot of them and then BIG4 also has several.
5:43
Beyond that, the boutique firms also follow suit and have a lot of fantastic programs as well.
In terms of eligibility, I think it varies widely by program type.
There's certain ones that are, you know, very specific to identity or very specific to interest or very specific beyond that.
6:03
I think the best way to find out is just explore, click through the program, see what you might be eligible for.
They all are very able to.
There's a lot of information out there on eligibility that's very open.
So just click through, see what people are interested in, what features interest you, and what you can apply for.
6:20
OK, amazing.
It sounds like people just need to go check out our article and so check.
That out, yeah, absolutely.
So for someone they find out that they OK I am eligible for one or two or or eight of these programs.
Why should they consider applying to one of these sophomore DEI programs?
6:39
Yeah.
I think my biggest take is there's no reason not to explore consulting or no reason not to explore these programs.
I think a lot of students immediately assume when they start reading the pro about the programs that they're going to have to pay to get to them or they're going to be some barriers of entry.
6:56
But these are just fantastic opportunities to learn about these firms, learn about consulting, meet other students interested in consulting or interested in similar careers to you.
And I think one of the big pros is that these firms pay for everything to make it happen for you, right?
Like flights, hotels, all of it is generally covered by the farm.
7:16
So there's really no, at least in my experience, the firms that I interacted with did a very good job of making sure that there were no barriers to entry to being able to attend these events.
And then beyond that, there are fantastic opportunities to really grow that professional network and kind of understand whether consulting, one, if consulting is of interest to you and two, whether the firm that you're interacting with is of interest to you.
7:42
And then I think the vast majority of these programs have some sort of continued interest pipeline, whether that's an internship out of it just for getting into the conference or a guaranteed final round or some way to continue engaging with the firm.
7:59
Amazing.
Yeah, it sounds like really one of the main benefits of applying is it's a kind of an inside track, a fast track to consulting.
You will like a lower resistance pathway into consulting.
And so absolutely, if someone is eligible, then like why the heck not. Just do diligence, put in the work to create a great kind of application and then apply.
8:28
Yeah, absolutely.
Like can't echo that enough.
It is.
These are a lot lower resistance pathways to start engaging with the firm.
In fact, I think I'm one of the rare people that ended up with a consulting internship without having to do a case.
8:44
I think the program that I did has since changed and implemented the case, but I did like to end up with a consulting internship without any kind of case interview.
Dirty.
A little secret they don't want you to know about.
I think they've since changed it since my year, but I don't think it'll be intense by any means.
9:03
Amazing.
Well, we will chat a little bit about the application and interview process here in just a few minutes.
But Alex, I want to get into your specific experience here.
Can you just share that?
So we'll start off by just letting you share which programs with which firms that you participated in and just like a quick kind of overview or sharing the highlights of what stood out for each program.
9:29
Yeah, absolutely.
So I participated in KPMG's RISE program, which is a leadership conference that I applied to I think like somewhere in February of my freshman year and then attended during the summer after my freshman year.
9:46
KPMG RISE is a two or three day leadership conference at KPMG's Lake House, which is an awesome place to go explore and really like to see the heart of KPMG.
And it's just an opportunity to really like, attend speaker sessions, interact with other students interested in KPMG, like meet students from a bunch of different schools and the professionals.
10:10
And really like, again, get to explore KPMG, explore Lake House, really like interact with the firm and understand, kind of demystify a lot of the corporate jargon of like, what are service lines and what is audit and what is tax and what it is advisory and what are all of the 40 service lines with an advisory?
10:31
And how does that all work?
Yeah.
And then the other program that I attended that was very similar to that was PW CS Career Preview.
However, the structure was a little different.
And I think they've changed it now.
But for my year, I interviewed for the PW CS Start program, which is their internship after the sophomore year, after my sophomore year.
10:54
But if you got an internship, if you got an offer to start, you got an invite to a career preview, which is structured very similarly to KPMG's RISE program.
It's a two to three day leadership conference where you get to again, meet PwC professionals, meet the other interns from across the whole country.
11:14
And it was hosted at Disney World, so you get to also explore that, which was super, super cool.
Stay at the Disney World resorts and go and explore the park.
All funded by PwC.
So a very, very fun, fun introduction to the farm.
11:32
So even if you don't end up working at PwC or going along that route, you at least get a heck of a fun weekend at Disney, yes?
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
I believe the structure back then was that it was every intern that had an offer and then your offer date was like the week or your signing date was like a week after the program.
11:54
So it's definitely an opportunity for them to sell you.
It's kind of like a sales weekend, essentially.
Yeah.
It was kind of like a sell weekend, but a little bit more in depth with a lot more speakers and really just like it is, it's quite a big program.
12:10
So from that, both KPMG Rise and Career Preview were after the summer or during the summer after my freshman year.
I decided for a variety of reasons, simply a bit about convenience and due to my greater interest in consulting to just take the offer with PwC rather than I was given the opportunity to interview for the KPMGBS Embark program.
12:38
And I think most of the people that were interested in it from Rise were able to secure that offer.
But Embark was structured a little differently than Start at the time and that it was rotating through audit, tax and consulting.
And I knew that I was more interested in consulting.
So I just stuck with my PwC consulting offer.
12:57
And yeah, I'm happy to go into more about Start.
Yeah, for sure.
Now I would love to hear what that experience was like.
Yeah, absolutely.
So it was very, very nice to be able to operate my entire second year just knowing that I already had an offer and I didn't really have to worry about securing an internship.
13:20
So I went to start, which was the DEI Focus sophomore internship at PwC in the LA office for the summer after my sophomore year, and it was a really, really fantastic experience.
13:36
These internships tend to be a couple weeks shorter than the traditional junior internships.
So mine was six weeks.
And basically I was put in a pod of like 6 or 8 interns to work on a nonprofit pro bono consulting project all summer that you then for the last few weeks presented in a case competition style to basically figure out which was going to get pitched to the client.
14:06
I really enjoyed it because there were tons of different levels of support.
I think I was assigned to like maybe four different levels of mentorship to really like learn, learn about, learn about corporate America and really understand the dynamics, which is one of the other benefits of these programs is you really get that opportunity to like learn how corporate America works, especially for people from backgrounds who don't have exposure to that.
14:30
And again, PwC does a great job of making it fun.
We went to Disneyland for training and then Universal as well.
So there was.
There was a lot of fun baked into that somewhere too.
15:50
Yeah.
So I think one of the greatest parts, at least in my experience of having that offer nailed down from like the winter of my freshman year for for start, was that I kind of freed me up to focus more on exactly what I wanted rather than just securing an offer somewhere because I knew I already had a career option that I was happy with.
16:13
So during the spring before recruiting to start, I decided that I wanted to give MB BA a shot.
So I dedicated a lot of time that spring of my sophomore year into casing and really understanding what MBB was, networking with MBB professionals and decided to shoot my shot for round one of MBB intern recruitment.
16:39
So I was lucky enough to have an interview.
So at Banning Company, I think it was the week after the start ended when I interviewed.
So it was definitely like some trickier timing.
But yeah, it gave me the time and space to really prepare for those interviews and really, like, think through what I wanted.
17:05
Absolutely.
And so just taking a quick step back a little bit, looking at your experience with these programs, how would you summarize the kind of ultimate benefit that you took from those?
17:23
And what would you say to someone kind of on the fence about right trying to, to land at, at any of these programs?
Yeah, absolutely.
I think there were a couple main benefits.
I think the first one was getting a name on your resume early in your undergraduate, like professional career.
17:43
Big names can get you really far, especially for things like resume screens and just making applications successful, right?
You can be a super impressive candidate, but now you have a big name and that's very validating on your resume.
I think it also taught me like how corporate America works, different dynamics and how to really present myself as a professional and how to interact in that professional environment, how to lean on mentorship, how to present deliverables, how like what were the norms of like using Microsoft Teams and how to write a successful e-mail and, and like norms like that.
18:20
And then I think it also gave me the space and time to like confirm that consulting was the right fit and something that I was really interested in.
And then beyond that, it really gave me that space and security to be like, I have an option within my career that I enjoy to really feel like I had the space to figure out what else I wanted.
18:47
Absolutely.
Well, that's something you gained a whole lot from some of the experience all the way from skills to networking to kind of concern.
Confirming the consulting is right for you really sounds like a no brainer to anybody who's thinking about it.
19:04
Maybe not sure if they wanna invest the time into going through the process.
Yeah, I think for anyone interested, I can't encourage applying enough.
There's really, the applications are typically very easy, very standard, not too intense.
19:21
The interviews are definitely a step down from those typical junior year internships, right?
The firms are very understanding that you're much earlier in your professional and academic careers.
And again, they really roll out the red red carpet for you once you get in.
Yeah, absolutely.
19:37
That's awesome.
Well, I appreciate you sharing your experience.
One thing I'll just quickly call out here is that for anybody who is right, you're listening to this maybe a later and you're like, I missed the boat to this or right, I need to kind of, I'm not sure if consulting is right for me.
19:53
So how do I figure that out?
One kind of potential option is that a management consultant has a program called Strategy Sprint.
It's a week-long virtual consulting project where you'll like to serve real clients, get mentorship from an MDB consultant, present to the client, and build those skills.
20:09
And so that's a valuable option.
If you're right, you're not able to, you're not eligible for these programs or you missed a blur or something like that.
So we'll, we'll include more information about that in the show notes.
OK, amazing.
20:25
So I'd love to move on to our next section, which is just like advice for folks who like to get into these kinds of sophomore programs.
So let's just start off like, what do candidates need to know for the application and interview process?
20:48
Yeah, absolutely.
I think the application and interview process, at least in my experience, has been fairly standard.
It's somewhere, I think halfway between a job application and kind of similar to the college recruiting process a little bit.
21:08
So they'll typically be like a resume and cover letter.
And then some different programs have either an essay question or two or video essay just so that candidates can really express their interest.
And then once you make it past the application process, you get typically invited to one to two behavioral interviews that in my experience, have been far more conversational than most, like career related interviews.
21:42
Yeah, the interviews that I experienced were very, very more like much more similar to a coffee chat.
Obviously they're asking questions and you have to be prepared to be able to answer, but it's that none of them were particularly intense.
OK, Yeah, that makes sense.
21:59
It's not like the process for a junior year internship or for a full time role.
It's a little easier because they understand that you're earlier on in your school journey and right you're not quite there yet maybe, but still get good at preparing.
22:16
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So, can you give any tips for let's just talk specifically about the application, any tips for right, the resume or like, do people need to network with, you know, people at PwC or KPMG or Bain or whatever before they apply?
22:34
Does that give them an upper hand or just what are best practices here?
Yeah, I think what set me up for success in the recruiting process was having a clean resume is awesome.
And being able to express your interest in the cover letter or in the essay is definitely super important.
22:53
But I do think there is a networking aspect that is really important for these programs.
I made sure at least in the programs that I was interested in that the recruiters may like campus specific recruiters knew, knew my name, knew I was interested, whether that was setting up office hours or sending them a couple emails just asking them more about the details of the program or, or the application.
23:18
I think at least from my experience, recruiters can definitely ensure that your application at least gets looked at or is at the top of the pile for some of these programs.
And I think what you can do to set yourself apart is really demonstrate interest in the program, whether that means talking to someone at your school who's done it and really like being able to network with someone at the firm or again, like raising your hand in front of the recruiter and really getting your name is like, oh, I want this and I'm super interested in in it.
23:57
I think that goes really far with these programs.
Absolutely.
That's super helpful, Alex.
I appreciate that.
I think networking is usually the most underrated or like the most ignorant aspect of any sort of recruiting process.
And so we're always harping on that, the importance of having a strategy and executing it.
24:17
So I'm glad you brought that up.
OK, so you gave some advice for networking and applications.
What about at interviews?
Like what, what would you leave our listeners with?
Like your kind of your best piece of advice for right showing up well to these behavioral interviews slash kind of like coffee coffee chat style interviews.
24:39
Yeah, absolutely.
I think there's two key tips that I have.
And I think the first one that I was more surprised by when receiving interviews was that you often, especially for these programs, are given the option to select your interviewer.
So it was typically like you, I was like sent to a schedule of different times, the different interviewers were available and you got to pick.
25:02
And I think this is where you can really set yourself up for success by doing a quick LinkedIn search and finding interviewers that may be aligned with affinity groups that you align with or have similar interests to you.
Or once that you might think that you might have more commonalities with similar organizations in college or similar backgrounds.
25:22
And I think that really helps make them far more coffee, chat, ask them super like classic and intense interview style.
And then beyond that, once you get to the interview, again, this is a time where they know where the firms know that you are really early in your academic and professional careers.
25:43
You're there to test out whether this is the correct industry for you.
So I think the best thing you can do is again, like continue to demonstrate interest and excitement, right?
Show that you understand what the program is, that you've done research, that maybe you've talked to people about it, and are really, really excited for the opportunity.
26:07
Absolutely.
And the good thing about demonstrating excitement and interest is that anybody could, anybody can do that.
There's no barriers to entry for that.
So exactly, you know, the firms want to do a good job of eliminating barriers to entry.
And so don't second guess yourself, don't disqualify yourself from the process.
26:25
And this is kind of a little bit of what I'm hearing you say through this, but it does take some thought and intentionality and we just want to encourage folks to to put some thought into how they're going about the whole process.
Yeah, absolutely.
I totally agree with that.
I think the more research and intentionality that you're able to approach these conversations with, the more impressed your interviewers will be, right.
26:48
I think a lot of interviewers are expecting, maybe not necessarily naive, but students without that much interest or knowledge.
So if you can show any ounce of interest or research on the firm or the practice that your interviewers really like, it shows them that you're motivated, curious and want to learn more.
27:13
Sounds like the bars are not all the way to the sky.
It's maybe a little bit lower than that.
Yeah, so because you've got this as you're listening, if you're like, oh man, I would like some expert help with this, please.
27:30
We are Management Consulted and we love helping people maximize their chances to break into consulting.
So we've got our black belt program, which is our most popular prep program, right?
We'll, we'll have you edit your resume and cover letter to make sure it's up to consulting standards.
We'll build a networking strategy with you.
27:47
We'll build a case and, you know, an interview prep strategy with you and then work with you through one-on-one coaching and, and digital resources to, to give yourself the kind of the best shot at, at whether it's these DEI programs or an internship or a full time role or an advanced degree bridge program, anything like that.
28:05
Please reach out.
Alex, one thing that you mentioned is that right for one of the programs, it happened the summer after your freshman year, which means like you're thinking about this, you're getting to work on applications really, really early in your school journey.
28:27
And I know a lot of folks just, they don't think about it until they're junior, junior or senior year or they just don't know that it can help to be involved in the process early on.
Do you have anything you'd say to, let's just say a freshman candidate, right?
28:46
It's the second semester, freshman year.
What would you tell them as they're kind of maybe starting to think about their career options?
Yeah, I think I would employ them to just try it.
There's no reason in my opinion to not apply for these programs.
29:03
Even if you just let interviews and it doesn't work out like practicing interviews, this earlier on in your academic and professional career is going to prepare you so much more for when you apply for those junior year internships that really, really matter.
29:19
So use this time to like, again, test out your skills, test out what's comfortable for you and really test out what industries excite you.
And like, again, there's no reason to not see whether consulting is a fit or something that you're interested in and right, even if it's not like a firm's going to pay for you to go to Disney World.
29:44
So have fun.
Have fun and love that amazing.
Well, again, everything that folks need to know check out the show notes.
You'll find links to where you can run my deadlines and apply to these programs.
30:00
There are lots of deadlines coming up or they were recording this in late January and there's deadlines coming up February, March and and so on and so forth.
So make sure to utilize those resources.
All right, Alex, well, I've got 2 fun questions for you.
30:20
Tita, you mentioned Disney a couple of times.
Can you talk about just a stand out moment or memory from your recent experience at Disney?
Yeah, absolutely.
30:39
I think the stand out moment was super, super funny as I've never been to Florida before this experience or Disney World.
So I have a good experience at Disneyland, but not at Disney World.
30:55
And we got taken around the park and got to do something like a fun scavenger hunt activity.
But at the end of the night, right, it always ends with fireworks at, at Disney World.
And it was absolutely hilarious because PwC gave us these like 3D glasses, but like movie glasses, but not that changed bright lights into like a rainbow version of the PwC logo.
31:22
So you got to watch the fireworks as like a million PwC logos.
And it was, it was just super funny.
It was hilarious.
Wow, where'd you go to pick up PwC?
That's Yep, that's funny.
All right.
Last but not least.
31:39
So you're going to be staring at Bain before too long.
What are you most looking forward to like your first week at Bain?
Oh, I'm really excited to reconnect with my entire intern class, actually.
31:58
I think we had an awesome experience this summer and I've already made super amazing connections that are like a little bit hard to keep up with when we're all at school and a bunch of different places.
So I'm really excited to see all of them again and tackle, you know, the intense environment that is MBB consulting with them together.
32:20
Amazing.
All right, well, can't wait for you.
We're stoked for you, Alex.
Thanks for sharing your experience today on Strategy Simplified Podcast and we'll see you around.
Awesome.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thank you for tuning in, and please reach out if there's anything we can do to support you and your journey into consulting we've got tons of free resources at managementconsulted.com, as well as paid programs that you can join to work with an MBB coach throughout the recruiting process, namely our Blackwell program.
32:50
Links in the show notes to see all the resources.
We'll catch you on another episode of Strategy Simplified soon.